Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1887-04-13

= and while there l had the pleasure of NEE
= ing his wife and baby. l shall never. forge
% the impression she made upon me. Thel
I was something about her that made on
o say mentally: ''she is a great deal mo,
than an average woman"
I carried with me from the house anothe
impression. l was impressed with the fac
that Mrs. Smith was in love with her hui
r band.
7 1 know some Of my readers will shru
their shoulders and thinkthats such a state
ment might be made OF almost any NAL
ried woman. 1t does not necessarily FOL
D low, however, that, because persons lv
together as man and wife, they are in love
!, or that having once loved they nave KEEP
the fires burning on the family hearth b,
that consideration for each other that the,
I. may have deserved.
e Mrs. Smith was in love with her husband
1t was not a noisy, demonstrative affec
ton put on to exhibit to company. Fa
: from it. 1t showed itself more in a flush o
pride as she watched his approach. in
hundred little attentions and courtesiel
that some persons would hardly notice.
thought then and time but serves to deeper
the conviction: OF all the compliment
that can be paid to mortal man the grand
est is the fact that his wife loves him.
CHAPTER II.
BEvERLY's couRTsHIP N DISAPPOINTMENT
With a span of horses and q small sleigh
well loaded with provisions, mail and bed.
ding we started on our trip. Under favor
able circumstances re could have made
our destination in five days. We spoiled
ten.
In starting out we took the regular road,
but reaching the hay bottoms at the
mouth Of a small stream, some eighteen
miles below the Fort, we concluded to take
to the ice of the Missouri River and travel
on that. We were fortunate enough to
make wood camps nearly every night and
also fortunate in not driving into an air
hole in the river.
We made good time on the ice and kept
it till we reached the upper end of the big
miles around and perhaps not over seven
or eight miles across by the regular wagon
road. We made our calculations ahead as
we'll as possible and 80 timed ourselves as
to rave nearly the entire day in which to
cross the point. 1t was fortunate that we
did SO. We needed it. The roads were al
most impossible. We were exceedingly
glad to get on the ice again. Not only
were the roads about all that we could get
away with, but the biting winds of the
high, rolling prairie of that country had
full play on US. In travelling on Che ice.
even if it did take longer, we were pro-
tected by the banks of the stream and the
timbered points On one side or the other
OF us. Reaching Bismarck, we left our
team and in company with others made
Moorhead, Minnesota, in a sleigh after a
five days ride.
The Northern Pacific Railroad was COM
pleted to Bismarck at the time of which l
write, but no trains were run in the winter
time farther west than the Red River Val
ley. We were compelled to remain a day
in Moorhead because of a snow blockade,
before we could proceed to St. Paul. At
the letter place we parted, Beverly going
south to visit relatives in Iowa, and l pro-
ceeding East.
We had been together ON our trip nearly
eighteen days, and parted warmer friends
than ever.
If you wish to find out whether or not a
person has a disposition that is endurable,
get such person away from the restraints
of society and travel and camp out with
him where there are annoying circum- /
stances. Beverly bad a happy faculty of
making the best OF everything that could
not be brought about as he wished.
In travelling together for so many days
we naturally whiled away the time by
talking over our experiences. remember |
asking him how he came to win such a
splendid woman for q wife, and l give his
story as near as possible in his own words:
''Some eight years ago 1 met Miss Fleu-
rette Caxton in the city where l LIVED in
Minnesota. That was in war times and
war SONGS were all the rage. Where she
first captivated me was in singing Some
body's Darling at an entertainment for the
liberately fall i'll love. l tumbled in all ut
once, and don't suppose I'll ever get out.
For a time all was smooth when, the first
thing l knew, l was surprised by an entire
of front. She turned me a cold
l instantly demanded an ex-
PLANTATION, and from the answer came to
the conclusion that so much had been said
to her about keeping company with a man
Smith that she wanted time to con.
slider whether she would have anything to
do with increasing the Smith family or not.
mined to love her so much that she
think for a moment OF having
to do with anyone else. l was SO
to win her that l was fairly beside
myself. l got into love SO deeply that l
was anxious for her exclusive attention
and tried to make her nave me whether she
wanted me or not. OF course l got left.
yloriously so. Then how I hated her and
tried to show her what a great loss she had
sustained in discarding me. But, bless you,
she laughed in my face, for she knew she
could pick me up any day she wanted to:
This was the last straw on the impatient
back. We parted with words holly ,
spoken and avoided each other for
1.-The feeling Of indignation for my love
being so slightingly received grew upon me
and l finally returned her the letters she
had sent me when We were on most friendly
being particular to so word the let
ter accompanying them as not to imply
hat l had any wish for mine. WANTED to
convey to her the idea that l was too true
10 think OF loving anyone else, and that
returning the letters was to leave her
tickle mind free to oam at it's pleasure.
1.-THE answer l got convinced me that she ,
vas still more than a match for me. She .
all the letters l had sent, but :
Iept several tokens given her when l knew :
hat she felt very kindly indeed toward 9
ne. This action set me thinking. l saw .
ny affection for her had made some i'm q
PRESTON and for a moment l wished that =
ny name was anything but Smith and l .
vas again in her good graces. Then pride '
anne to the front and l was again indig- T
amt to think she had treated my advances =
nth so much indifference. =
"A few months afterward she took a no.
10 20 LhbU anu A1o II Ouu r
alton. 1 shall always think that she ex- -
ected that when I should hear OF her in :
ended departure l would be at her feet in '
n instant and implore her not to go. =
1 didn't do So. When she was =
ctually gone I confess l was almost car .
led away with the impulse to follow her "
nd make her return. Then pride came to "
front again and if l could have seen her n
would have said something like this: +
cour the universe. Find a better man. il !,
can, than the one you have discarded,
nd when you find him he may not be as n
usceptible q subject as the man you leave h
ebind. Should you be so fortunate as to i,
in his love, appreciate it. or you may i,
,se it. A mans love is too precious a
Don for any woman to deliberately throw .
yer her shoulder. :,
'sShe was gone. In one sense OF the u
ord it wal a happy situation for me. i
as no longer put to the necessity vi going Il
OF the way to avoid meeting her..
ssShe was gone. In the feeling OF a heart
eserted l bowed my head in bitter an a
fish and wept. Then the feeling that =
eseryed a different fate took possession OF z
,e. and for weeks afterward l was racked 4
y the alternate promptiDgs OF disappOint- II